- Samita Nayak
- 1233
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HR Strategy
Image Courtesy: Unsplash
Organizational decision-makers now genuinely value HR experts as a result of the pandemic, but as we adjust to our new work practices, this industry will need to fill new jobs.
These are four highly significant new HR responsibilities for the future of work, among the many others that are expected to arise.
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1. Employee Wellness
For a long time, employee benefits such as cinema or concert tickets, table tennis in the office, or after-work drinks were very much seen as the benchmarks for providing employee happiness and satisfaction. The pandemic has highlighted that these sorts of benefits are only successful up to a point and that, in reality, something far more substantial is needed.
With the advent of the global pandemic, greater attention has been given to employee wellbeing over the last few years. These include roles like wellness managers, wellbeing directors, health coaches, fitness coordinators, workplace environment architects, chief purpose planners, etc. Their responsibilities include addressing issues relating to general employee health and wellbeing through the creation of specific initiatives and programs, as well as spearheading the adoption of meaningful benefits, rather than just monetary.
2. Diversity and Inclusion
Over the years, various socio-political events have also forced organizations to consider the diversity and inclusion of their teams. Notably, the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement was (and continues to be) instrumental in highlighting the injustices and discrimination that minorities experience in day-to-day life.
Organizations might think about hiring a diversity officer or a human bias officer to prevent such incidents. Organizations should think about hiring a diversity or human bias officer to prevent such incidents. These jobs are to recognize where predispositions might happen in a business and afterward address these worries through significant preparation programs.
Therefore, in the future, we can expect such roles to be involved in recruitment processes to ensure that candidates from various backgrounds are all receiving the same opportunity when it comes to applications.
3. Innovation in Working Style
Events over the last year have forced many organizations to reconsider their longer-term working habits and promote flexibility for all their employees in terms of remote working. It has become a norm and also a popular way of working for the years to come.
Although many organizations have been successful in implementing remote working policies successfully, there is still more to be done to ensure that employees have the right conditions to work in and that they don’t feel burned out.
In this regard, work from home (WFH) facilitator is a role that can establish working practices and provide the necessary support for remote working employees. Their responsibilities include the creation of procedures and processes to help and coach employees on how to build workstations anywhere that promote greater productivity.
4. HR Data Analytics and Management
The pandemic has featured the requirement for HR divisions to turn out to be more proficient and more information driven. With teams working remotely, conducting timely surveys and gathering employee insights has been crucial in allowing HR teams to respond to key issues affecting employees.
Looking into the future, if HR teams are to play a role in organizational recovery, leveraging data will be essential, to ensure that they are meeting the requirements and expectations of all stakeholders.
In this context, the title of ‘HR Data Detective’ might prop up. Although suspicious, in reality, however, the purpose of this role is to investigate trends or inconsistencies in data, integrate all HR data, and ensure its ethical implementation within an organization.
The role of human network analyst is another that might become available. HR directors ought to consider how crucial it is to cover a wide range of topics within HR, including:
- How teams work together in unison and effectively engage in communication
- Whether an organization can successfully engage with remote employees
- Areas relating to organizational diversity and employee wellbeing
To do this, human network analysts will rely on data analytics and artificial intelligence in the future – to gain perspective on the overall operational efficiency of an organization. Consequently, the data and insights they collect will then enable key decision-makers to identify areas for improvement and restructuring.
A New World of HR
As a result, the epidemic has compelled HR directors to reconsider their goals and suggest fresh approaches to collaboration, learning, and working within the company. These new roles are the initial stepping stones to modernize HR and bring it up to speed with other business functions.
As workforces continue to evolve drastically, HR departments need to adapt to their employees’ changing needs. This ultimately presents opportunities within the HR function itself to accelerate this progression.
